Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Metro will not conduct major track maintenance in recognition of the National Cherry Blossom festival on the weekends of April 4-5, and April 11-12, but if you're a real planner, check out the schedule further out on this press release.

Of course these days, we think it's probably best to add 30 minutes to your travel time WHENEVER taking Metro. If you're on the Orange or Red, add another 15 and make sure you're iPod is charged or you've got something good to read.

According to the DC Examiner, Metro is "taking a closer look at recent train derailments."Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said it was only the seventh derailment in the system's 33-year history in which passengers were aboard.“We have to take a very close look at our practices internally,” Taubenkibel said. “We have to take a very introspective look.”What does that even mean? Why didn't he speak clearly and say Metro was going to fix the problem and that riders shouldn't be worried?Maybe it's because he knows that years of mismanagement and neglect may finally be coming home to roost.We found the last sentence amusing: Next year, the transit system will get a special vehicle that can evaluate the track for flaws. Let's hope the new vehicle doesn't derail because recently Metro's track equipment doesn't have a very good record!

Amazingly, Metro has not had a derailment today, so there's time to visit a couple of other topics.

WTOP, gotta love 'em, is reporting "the idea of light rail or rapid bus service from Alexandria to Tysons Corner along Route 7 is gaining steam." If you've ever been unlucky enough to drive along Route 7 over that stretch, you know it's a hellish drive. We used to live off Columbia Pike, which is one of the more densely serviced bus corridors in metro DC, and we see how many are wary of adding more lumbering buses to crowded lanes. Plus, it seems there's a bus stop every 50 feet or so. We've seen some pretty crazy stunts pulled in order to avoid getting trapped behind a bus.

Do you think buses, as run by Metro and other local transit systems, help congestion or worsen it?

The Washington Post has a feature on Antwoin Delph, the guy who puts up those 3M Scotchcal film adverts you see in Metro sometimes. In the article, Delph seems busy, so we wonder why there are still ads on the trains talking about "the holidays." Maybe they meant Nowruz.

We'd like to give a shout out to Whiteboard "Comics" for the mention. Love the cartoon.

Greater Greater Washington has a potentially useful map overlaying the new circulator bus routes over the Metro map.

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